Out of Our Minds
by HappyBeliever
Summary: Shikamaru is going through a dark period in his life and his friends and family are beginning to question his sanity. Things become more complicated when an unstable, hyperactive divorcee has a proposition for him that could get his life back on track. I DO NOT OWN NARUTO.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER:** I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!

**Author's Note**: So this is my very first fanfic and the idea came to me while watching the trailer of Silver Linings Playbook...

* * *

** Chapter**** One**

"So Shikamaru", addressed the grey haired man seated in an arm chair, not taking his eyes off his clipboard. "What seems to be the problem?" Shikamaru was lying on the couch across from him, staring up at the ceiling with one arm resting on his forehead. He could not quite understand why he was sent to the therapist in the first place. All he knew was that his parents did not want him living with them since he was having 'problems'. He exhaled a melancholic sigh.

"I don't know why I'm here", he spoke almost to himself.

"It says here that you were admitted in the East Side Neurology Hospital for two months, on the account of obstructive behaviour."

"I'm usually a very calm and easy-going guy. I don't know what happened."

"Can you recall anything from your last outburst?"

"Well, I think it all started when I saw Naomi kissing another man."

"Girlfriend?"

"No, fiancé."

"Okay, then?

"Well when I saw her, I couldn't understand what was going on".

"Were you by any chance drunk?"

"No I don't drink. Never did, never will."

"Okay." The therapist kept jotting down words and incomplete sentences as Shikamaru recalled.

"I remember feeling really angry and shocked. Naomi and I have been together for ten years now. So, I figured it must have been the sleazy bastard. I went home and cried for two hours. Then a week later, my mentor passed away in a car accident. He was closer to me than my own father. I realised that all bad things were linked to that one man so when I saw him in the metro station, I pounced on him and broke his jaw."

"I see. What happened next?"

"The police came and I started fighting with them too. They took me to my parents' home. Then one day, I just sort of phased out and the next thing I knew, I was at that hospital."

The therapist did not look up from his clipboard till he was finished with the history-taking. Once he was done, he examined Shikamaru with an unreadable expression. He was still staring at the ceiling. Tears were running down from the side of his right eye.

"Well Shikamaru, it seems to me that you still haven't gotten over what had happened. As part of my method of therapy, we will end our session here and we will continue this routine once every week."

Shikamaru didn't answer.

"Are we clear Shikamaru?"

"Huh?" He finally straightened up and faced the therapist, wiping his eye. "Alright."

Dr. Kakashi scribbled something on a pad of yellow slips and tore the top most handing it to Shikamaru. He took the slip with a bemused expression. He stood up, grabbed his jacket from the coat hanger.

Shikamaru stopped by the door and turned, "Can I ask you something Doc?"

"Ofcourse".

"Why do you wear a mask"? He pointed to the navy blue half ski mask the doctor had on that was covering most of his face except his left eye.

"That's none of your business Shikamaru", he replied softly.

"Okay", and with that, Shikamaru headed out of the clinic.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"So how did the appointment go?" Shikamaru's mother, Yoshino, asked brightly as she placed a plate of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies in front of him. She grabbed a chair and sat beside her son. Shikamaru grabbed a cookie and took a bite out of it.

"You sent me to a nutjob", he said with his mouth full.

"What are you talking about?" Yoshino looked surprised. "He's one of the best therapists in town."

"The guy wears a ski mask." Shikamaru took another bite.

"Sweetie we didn't have much of a choice and Dr. Kakashi is really qualified, I've heard. He'll help you get through this in no time." At this point, Shikamaru felt like he would start crying again. He could already feel the tears welling up in his eyes, ready to flow any minute. That's what he hated most about himself lately. Every little thing would set his tear glands working in full swing. His life was in complete ruins and he knew that even going to the therapist wouldn't help much. If only his parents understood. He was staring down at the half eaten cookie in his hand. Yoshino gently patted his hand in reassurance.

"It's going to be okay dear", she spoke softly. Shikamaru didn't look up, but he could discern the sadness in his mother's voice.

"I'm going up to my room", he said getting up.

"Hey Shikamaru", his father Shikaku, called from the living room. Shikamaru dragged his feet up the staircase, ignoring him completely.

It was almost 3 o clock in the morning. While his parents were asleep, Shikamaru was in the living room watching Walt Disney's Aladdin while stuffing his mouth with consommé flavoured chips. He was in his pajamas with little airplanes printed on them. He was watching intently with eyes glued to the screen, not blinking at all. Once the film had ended, he grabbed the empty DVD case and marched to his parents room, entering without knocking. Shikaku and Yoshino stirred from their sleep.

"They all end up happily ever after in this", Shikamaru says, holding up the case for them to see.

The old couple stared at their 27 year old son incredulously, eyes heavy with sleep.

"Son, why were you watching Aladdin at," Shikakau looks at the time on the alarm clock, "4 o'clock in the morning?"

"The guy gets the girl, even after she makes out with the villain. This is complete bullshit. Nobody ends up happy in real life."

"Shikamaru, that's just a children's film", Shikaku tried to explain.

"It's filled with lies."

"We'll talk about this in the morning."

"But it has motivated me to patch things up with Naomi."

"That's great dear now can we please go back to sleep?" Yoshino yawned.

"I don't exactly know how i'm going to do it but-"

"LET US SLEEP!" Yoshino shrieked and Shikamaru decided that it would be best to leave the discussion for the next day.


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER:** I DO NOT OWN NARUTO

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**Chapter Three**

In the course of the next few days, after four more visits to Dr. Kakashi and watching a Star Trek marathon, Shikamaru felt his spirits a bit lifted. He was even able to control his spontaneous outbursts of crying to some extent. Though he was still not able to step out into the world and fully embrace the changes. He rather preferred staying home for most of the day, much to his parents chagrin, who desperately wanted him to find a new job. When Shikamaru had his first attack, he was fired from his teaching job the minute the school's faculty found out about it, as the principal thought his new behaviour might prove "disturbing" for the students. Hence Shikamaru packed his pencils, pens, papers and everything else that was kept in the drawers for three years, and left the white-washed campus with little to no chance of ever returning. After he was discharged from the neurology hospital, he had chosen to stay home 24/7, as he thought that going out, talking to people, would only worsen his condition, whatever it was that he had.

One average Saturday evening, the Nara family was in the living room. Shikaku was reading a book, Yoshino was knitting and Shikamaru was watching Bloopers while wrapped up in a blanket cocoon. His parents were on the verge of cracking. They had to get him out of the house one way or another since his gloomy aura was affecting the whole atmosphere.

"Hey son," Shikaku finally spoke looking up from his book. Shikamaru groaned in response. "Your mother hasn't made dinner yet, and it's been months since we had anything that was not home-cooked, so how about you go out and get some take-away chow mien or something?" Shikamaru moved his head slowly away from the TV screen to look at his father dully . "What?" he said. His father could feel a sweat drop trickle down his own forehead, but at this point, his wife backed him up.

"Shikamaru, how long has it been since you've stepped out of the house, besides for your therapist appointment?" Yoshino spoke calmly but there was a hint of agitation in her tone.

"I don't know", Shikamaru drawled, "five months?"

"Exactly. And it's very unhealthy. You need to go out, there, take a walk, watch some clouds, talk to someone. How long has it been since you've talked to Choji?" Choji was Shikamaru's over-weight beast friend. The two became friends in grade school and since then, had established an unbreakable bond. They were practically like brothers now. "It's not good for you to stay all day at home wrapped up like this Shikamaru," Yoshino continued. "It will be easier for you to recover."

"Mom, I'm not dying of a terminal disease. I'm perfectly fine staying home." And that was the last Yoshino could take. Gone was her concerned, affectionate mother side, and was replaced my a more terrorizing woman, which was more like her original self. She shot up from her chair dropping her yarn balls and knitting needles on the floor. With her hands on her hips, and her nostrils flaring, she was ready to spit fire.

"That's it! I've had it with your whining and your complains and your perpetual moping," she barked. "Your father and I have tried very hard to tolerate your attitude, but it has gone too far and I will not stand my son becoming a sloppy free-loader. Now you need to get out of this house and buy that chow mien or whatever and talk to people, or I will make you sleep in the back yard, and mark my word Shikamaru Nara, I _will _do that!" The veins in her temple were visibly throbbing now. At this point, Shikaku was hiding his face behind the thick hard-cover book he was holding. Shikamaru, however, was unaffected by his mother's rage and continued staring blankly at the flat screen TV. Yoshino stomped towards the couch, grabbed the blanket wrapped around her son and pulled, making him fall to the floor with a loud thump.

"Out", she seethed, pointing at the door. Shikamaru did not argue and got up begrudgingly, dragging his feet to the door and grabbing his coat from the coat hanger.

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He was now at Extreme Chinese, waiting in line in front of the counter to give his order. The line was long. Very long. Shikamaru was finding it hard to stand still as people standing behind him pushed, nudged and elbowed each other. The restaurant had recently opened up and had received many positive reviews, which would explain the huge crowd. It must be an off day for me, he thought.

"Order anything you like, okay?" he heard a man behind him speak. His voice sounded awfully familiar to Shikamaru.

"I don't want anything", a woman muttered.

"You gotta eat something."

"I told you, I don't want anything!" the woman spat. Shikamaru turned his head a little to catch a glimpse of the loud couple. The man's blue eyes met his.

"Oh Shikamaru!" It was Naruto, a friend of his he hadn't seen ever since he was admitted. "It's been so long!" the blonde gleamed at him. Shikamaru only smiled faintly.

"How's your treatment going?" Naruto continued his queries with glee, loud enough for everyone else in the line and in the other parts of the restaurant to hear.

"I'm fine", Shikamaru replied glumly not even trying to smile this time. The last thing he had wanted was to run into an old friend that would pry him for news. There was awkward silence between them for the next couple of minutes, with Shikamaru's shoulders drooping and hands dug in his jeans pockets, and Naruto wearing a grin from ear to ear that didn't waver at all.

"Hey Shikamaru you remember my cousin Temari from last year's Christmas party?" Naruto broke the silence, gesturing to the woman that had been berating him a while ago.

That was the first time Shikamaru took notice of the woman who had been by Naruto's side this whole time. If it wasn't for her sandy blonde hair tied up in a radical style of four pig-tails, she could have passed as a goth. She was dressed in all black- from her button down shirt, to her pants, to her combat boots, to her trench coat. She wasn't looking at him. She was scrutinizing everything within her field of vision with her arms folded across her chest, but him. He vaguely recalled her but his memory failed him completely and all he could do was _pretend_ that he remembered her.

"Yeah", he spoke slowly. "Hi Temari, how have you been?" He tried giving a small smile. Temari's eyes shot up from the floor she was blankly staring at, and fell in contact with his. They held each others gaze for what seemed like an eternity until she narrowed her teal eyes at him and then looked away.

"Temari's in town for a few days to take a break from her divorce", Naruto said as if talking about divorce was an everyday routine sort of thing.

"DON'T YOU GO SHOOTING OFF FACTS ABOUT MY PERSONAL LIFE TO STRANGERS!" Temari barked, which made every single customer leave whatever they was doing and turn to look at her.

"He's not a stranger. He's my friend and you know him-"

"I DON'T CARE!" and with that she left the line and stomped to the back of the restaurant, her palms rcurled into fists.

"Great", said Naruto nonchalantly, "now she's gonna sulk in the girl's room for God knows how long."

"How did she get a divorce?" Shikamaru suddenly felt the need to ask. Lately his curiosity had been getting the better of him.

"Don't know", Naruto shrugged. "She hasn't said anything to anybody. She barely talks. It's been two months and she's still acting crazy. Hinata tries to keep her busy as much as possible. It's been really rough for us too, not to forget her brothers."

The line moved a little forward. Naruto's phone began ringing. He fished it out of his jeans pocket and answered.

"Hey Hinata", he greeted his wife a little too happily which annoyed Shikamaru. "WHAT! Menma fell from the bed? I'll be right there!" He pressed the screen hurriedly and stuffed the phone back inside the pocket. "Shikamaru, I need to go home now! My little boy is injured! Can you stay with with Temari till she orders something and then walk her home? Okay thanks bye!" And without waiting for Shikamaru to respond, or better yet fully register what he had just said, Naruto dashed out of the restaurant, leaving his friend gaping.

"What?" was all he could let out.


End file.
